Scheme

BOGOTA, Colombia - Leonardo Porras, a mentally challenged day laborer, was lured by the promise of work and flown from Bogota to a faraway location in northern Colombia, where he was shot to death by Colombian soldiers. As part of a nefarious scheme, prosecutors say, he was then identified as a leftist terrorist killed in action in order to hype the army's body count. Porras, 26, was one of 22 young men from the Soacha shanty barrio offered jobs in August 2008 and later found dead hundreds of miles away in North Santander province.

Anthony who? The armchair speculation about UCLA's defense this spring has centered on how the Bruins will replace Anthony Barr, the All-American linebacker who is expected to be a top-10 pick in the NFL draft. The Bruins have devised two answers to fill that void: scheme adjustments and Myles Jack. Jack was named to the Freshman All-American team by the Sporting News last season, and was the Pac-12's defensive and offensive freshman of the year after a late season run at running back.

Federal agents arrested 14 people - including a former deputy district attorney - for allegedly running a stock manipulation scheme from Southern California that cost investors more than $30 million. Authorities said the scheme involved the heavy promotion of worthless stocks, which the perpetrators later sold for huge profits in a classic “pump-and-dump” scheme. One of the stocks - for a company called frogads.com - was promoted in an infomercial by actress Pamela Anderson.

A former accounting manager for a Santa Clara tech company was accused by federal authorities Wednesday of setting in motion an insider trading scheme that reaped millions of dollars for those involved. The Securities and Exchange Commission accused Chris Choi, who worked for Nvidia Corp., of passing on confidential information to a friend before the company's quarterly earnings announcements in 2009 and 2010. That friend then allegedly relayed the tips to a fellow poker player who managed a hedge fund, and who used the information himself and passed it on to analysts at other firms.

Five German brewing companies were fined millions by German authorities for colluding to fix prices between 2006 and 2008. The companies -- Bitburger, Krombacher, Veltins, Warsteiner and Barre -- have been ordered to pay a combined 106.5 million euros (about $145.5 million), along with seven people "personally involved" in the price fixing scheme, according to a statement from the Federal Cartel Office. The collusion started in joint meetings between national breweries, which first agreed to price hikes for their draught and bottled suds, the authorities said.

Lenny Dykstra does not believe he's a criminal. But an L.A. County Superior Court judge decided otherwise Monday, sentencing the former New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies center fielder to three years in state prison for his role in a grand theft auto case. According to prosecutors, Dykstra and two others tried to lease and then sell cars from several dealerships by claiming credit through a nonexistent business. After Judge Cynthia Ulfig rejected a last-ditch effort by Dykstra's lawyer to withdraw his no-contest plea, Dykstra addressed the court in a manner described by The Times' Andrew Blankstein as "rambling and repetitive.

More than 50 people have been indicted in Southern California, Las Vegas and Charlotte, N.C., in connection with a "phishing" scheme to steal bank account information from thousands of victims in the United States, authorities said Tuesday. The federal grand jury indictment, which was unsealed Wednesday, names 53 suspects -- 33 of whom have already been arrested -- as well as 47 unindicted co-conspirators from Egypt, said FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller. All of those who were indicted face charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud.

Eight people, including a Santa Ana resident, face federal charges in a scheme that promised investors a $73.3-million return on a $40,000 investment. A 14-count indictment unsealed Wednesday in Huntington, W.Va., accuses members of wire fraud, money laundering and selling securities without a proper license. Those indicted were Stephen Oles, a San Diego businessman; Ramona Holcombe of Santa Ana; Stanie E. Benz of Ojai; James Gormley, an attorney from Atlanta; David and Jennifer Raimer of the Orlando, Fla. area; Gary D. Bolin of Flat Rock, Ill.; and Ernst N. Tietjen of Salt Lake City.

Regarding "Seeing Ghosts on the Nez Perce Trail" (May 11): The point lost among all the hand-wringing over the plight of the Indian is that no other scenario was possible. American Indians weren't keen on integration and sharing. Their land was their land, God-given, and that's that. And the settlers did what settlers do: settle what hasn't been settled yet. There was no grand scheme to make or break treaties. They were made by necessity and broken by necessity. When the Nez Perce warriors started killing settlers, the Army had to react; the settlers had to have protection.

Re "Politicians' flights called wasteful," Feb. 28 Your article illustrates what's become a trend among the liberal super-rich: carefree burning of hydrocarbons because the users contribute to some scheme to offset that burning by planting trees. You can't un-burn the hydrocarbons you waste. I don't care what kind of scheme you sign up for to feel good about it. The ultra-wealthy and Hollywood elite signing up for these carbon-trading schemes to feel good about their extravagant lifestyles is morally equivalent to the nobility buying dispensations from the church in the Middle Ages.

Orange County prosecutors will consider filing criminal charges against 11 former Corona del Mar High School students and a tutor accused in an alleged cheating scheme in which grades were altered and class exams accessed. Newport Beach police investigated the alleged scheme, which used log-in names and passwords stolen from teachers' computers, and will forward their evidence to the Orange County district attorney's office. All 11 students eventually signed expulsion agreements that banished them from the high school but allowed them to transfer to other campuses in the Newport-Mesa Unified School district.

There's something delightfully strange and counterintuitive about the way time operates in the opening chapters of Michael Lewis' new book, "Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt. " Lewis describes a new kind of Wall Street gold rush. In the entirely automated, pre- and post-crash stock market of the first two decades of the 21st century, human traders have become superfluous. Stocks are bought and sold inside computers, and a new brand of high-frequency trader is making a fortune thanks to a precious new commodity - speed.

The Justice Department and FBI have opened an investigation of Los Angeles nutritional products company Herbalife Ltd., which has been fighting critics who say it's operating an illegal pyramid scheme. Law enforcement sources confirmed the investigation. The FBI started looking into the company "more than several months ago," said a person who has been briefed on the investigation. "We are doing our job of getting to the bottom of this issue," said the official, who asked not to be identified because the investigation is ongoing.

A former Fannie Mae employee was convicted late Friday of soliciting kickbacks from a broker with promises to steer lucrative listings of foreclosed homes his way. The federal court jury in Santa Ana convicted Armando Granillo of three counts of fraud, rejecting his contention that he intended to cheat only the broker, not Fannie Mae, the nation's largest home-finance firm. At the end of a two-day trial, the jury took less than two hours to convict Granillo, who sat grimly as each of the jurors affirmed the guilty verdicts.

The rancorous battle over Herbalife's business practices took a critical turn as the company revealed that it is being investigated by the Federal Trade Commission. Herbalife did not reveal details of the probe, but the Los Angeles nutritional products maker reiterated its long-held position that its business model is sound. The company has been the target of accusations that it operates a pyramid scheme. "Herbalife welcomes the inquiry given the tremendous amount of misinformation in the marketplace, and will cooperate fully with the FTC," the company said in a statement.

Consuming celebrity news, you might think that nothing is off-limits to the prying eyes of the paparazzi. In late January, actors Dax Shepard and his wife Kristen Bell launched a campaign on Twitter to end harassment they face from the paparazzi for pictures of their baby. Using the hashtags #pedorazzi and #NoKidsPolicy , Shepard and Bell called on the celebrity gossip media industry to stop using these images and for fans to stop buying them. Some media outlets took the tweeting seriously.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has obtained a court order freezing the assets of Anaheim Hills-based companies it alleged were operating a $53-million Ponzi scheme, the commission disclosed Thursday. The SEC alleged that Matthew Jennings, 39, of Yorba Linda, offered investors short-term returns of more than 100% and had used new investor deposits to pay returns to earlier investors. He operated several companies with the Westmoore brand name, including Westmoore Management LLC and Westmoore Investment LP, the SEC said.

WASHINGTON - As international efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions stall, schemes to slow global warming using fantastical technologies once dismissed as a sideshow are getting serious consideration in Washington. Ships that spew salt into the air to block sunlight. Mirrored satellites designed to bounce solar rays back into space. Massive "reverse" power plants that would suck carbon from the atmosphere. These are among the ideas the National Academy of Sciences has charged a panel of some of the nation's top climate thinkers to investigate.

The predawn arrests of current and former police officials Tuesday in the Salinas Valley town of King City accounted for nearly one-third of the small town's entire force. The acting chief, a former chief and other police employees were arrested along with the owner of a towing company -- some on charges connected to an alleged scheme to steal impounded cars that often belonged to Latino immigrants. In that scheme, a police sergeant was allowed to take one impounded vehicle for every 10 to 15 he steered to a towing company owned by the brother of the acting police chief, according to the criminal complaint.